Two Ur III Texts from Umma - Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative ...

Figure 2: SWBTS 07.01.07
§3.2. In a comment to his recent edition of the similar
text Ontario 2, 378, from Ibbi-Suen 1, in which the
fresh reed received by Alulu is specifi cally designated
as the “fodder for barley-fed sheep” (ša 3 -gal udu niga),
Marcel Sigrist (2004: 214) writes:
In the last years of the kingdom of Ur, barley was no longer
easily available; more often animals were fed reeds, even supposed
“barley-fed” sheep.
While this statement in itself may be true, we should
be careful reading too much into these particular texts
recording fresh reed received by Alulu. If we include the
text published here, 27 reed receipts for the Šara temple
involving the animal fattener Alulu have been published
so far, easily identifi ed through either one of the
two online databases of Ur III texts. 6 About two thirds
of the receipts can be dated to Ibbi-Suen 1 (months
6 That is, the Database of Neo-Sumerian Texts (BDTNS)
at or the Cunei form Digital
Library Initiative (CDLI) at .
The references published to date include (in chronological
order): Amar-Suen 8: the text published here; Šu-
9-10 7 ), one fi fth to Šu-Suen 9 (month 11), and the remaining
receipts to Šu-Suen 7 (month 9), Šu-Suen 4
(months 1 and 2) and Amar-Suen 8 (the text published
here). 8 Only 12 of these 27 texts include the line ša 3 -gal
udu niga, the earliest being the receipt from Šu-Suen 7
(SNAT 520).
§3.2.1. Thus, it is certainly true that most of these
receipts date to the fi nal years of Alulu’s period of activity
as a fattener in the Šara temple. However, this
concentration of attestations from the years Šu-Suen 9
and Ibbi-Suen 1 is more likely a refl ection of what has
been recovered and what has been published to date,
than a manifestation of an alleged economic crisis or
food shortage during these two years. Alulu is preceded
by several other animal fatteners in the Šara temple (see
details below), and these predecessors are also attested
receiving fresh reed to fatten up the animals of the Šara
temple, throughout the history of the Ur III state.
§3.2.2. It is also true that the specifi cation ša 3 -gal udu
niga only appears from Šu-Suen 7 in Alulu’s receipts,
and that this type of labeling of the fresh reed is attested
more frequently in the texts dated to Ibbi-Suen 1
than in Alulu’s earlier receipts. However, it seems very
likely that this practice of specifying the purpose of the
reed in these receipts should be understood simply as a
refl ection of slightly changed scribal conventions, and
not as evidence for a changed fodder intake among the
sheep administered by the temple. The main consumers
of fresh reed in Umma were sheep during the entire
Ur III period, and numerous texts show that fresh reed,
which was (and still is) an outstanding supplemental
animal fodder, was fed to the “barley-fed” sheep parallel
to the barley provisions (Waetzold 1992: 129; Sallaberger
1989: 313-314).
§3.2.3. To put in perspective the amounts of fresh reed
provided to the sheep classifi ed as udu niga by Alulu
Suen 4, month 1: SAT 3, 1413; month 2: SAT 3, 1474;
Šu-Suen 7, month 9: SNAT 520; Šu-Suen 9, month 11:
BPOA 1, 728 and 1177, BPOA 2, 2116, MVN 18, 568
and 704; Ibbi-Suen 1: Ontario 2, 366; month 9: MVN
13, 152, Princeton 2, 473, SAT 3, 1917, 1925 and 1930;
month 10: MVN 13, 147-151 and 153, Ontario 2, 378,
Princeton 2, 229 and FLP 1031, SAT 3, 1921, YOS 4,
80; broken date: MVN 18, 254.
7 All attestations from Ibbi-Suen 1 are dated to these two
months except Ontario 2, 366, which lacks a month
designation.
8 One text (MVN 18, 254) is broken and cannot be securely
dated to any year.
page 6 of 11 Cuneiform Digital Library Journal 2009:6